Love cookie dough? New eatery featuring specialized treats coming to Grand Strand

Mickey and Krystal Lyles were determined to be the first to bring an eatery featuring cookie dough treats to the beach.

Next month, the dream of the husband-and-wife duo will become reality.

The Lyles will open Cookie Dough Bliss — which offers up treats with different cookie dough bases — in Coastal Grand Mall on Nov. 15. The Pawleys Island couple arranged a franchise agreement with the chain based out of Concord, North Carolina, and their site will represent the seventh location.

The Lyles had been working to open their own cookie dough treat shop before Mickey learned about the possibility of teaming up with the young chain, which has several other locations planned.

“I was very concerned about somebody else beating us to the market, because I’m telling you, it’s coming,” said Mickey Lyles, who added that the Department of Health and Environmental Control informed him that theirs will be the first eatery of its type in South Carolina. “It’s very, very popular up north.”

The family first became interested in cookie dough treats when they saw the creator of DO, Cookie Dough Confections in New York, appear on the “Today” show. The family planned a trip to New York, where they sampled the treats firsthand and fell in love.

“Every time we went there was a line out the door,” said Mickey Lyles, whose family moved to the Grand Strand from Sumter about three and a half years ago. “It was just really good. It was something different than ice cream. You know, ice cream is on every other block down here, and (the cookie dough treats are) new, it’s innovative. Nobody else has done it. I think it takes everybody back to their childhood.”

While ice cream is on the menu, cookie dough favorites dominate the offerings. Cookie dough-based ice cream bars, sandwiches, sundaes, shakes and more are among the menu items.

Cookie Dough Bliss will be housed in a large kiosk in the center court of the mall, near Starbucks and the bouncy house. Mickey Lyles said they signed an area development agreement that will allow them have the only such franchisees in Horry and Georgetown counties, and they plan to eventually have five to eight locations.

Mickey Lyles said his family takes great pride in the startup business considering both he and his wife are pursuing it despite having everyday jobs. Mickey is a business consultant, and Krystal works for the federal government.

“We’re just a husband-and-wife team with three daughters. That’s why something like this is such a big deal to us,” Mickey Lyles said. “We both have working jobs, so this is something we’re trying to do to kind of build a business, build something our children might can work in five or six years from now.”

The Lyles consider getting a spot in the mall “divine intervention.” The day they began making phone calls and visiting potential sites, they found out the mall — which they considered to be a long shot — had an opening that was a fit both financially and logistically for them.

Mickey Lyles said they’ve already gotten strong support on Facebook and he expects to have a big turnout when the eatery opens next month.

“Who didn’t lick the cookie dough bowl when your mama or grandmama was baking cookies?” he said. “You know, it’s like a guilty pleasure.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 11:48 AM.